From Olympians to NFL champions, wrestlers to golfers, personal trainers to action stars, we ranked them all

Over the course of 17 seasons in the NFL, the eventual hall-of-fame linebacker set records for the most games started at inside linebacker, most seasons played at that position, and is the only player in history to record 40 career sacks and 30 career interceptions.

But it’s not just his play that makes Lewis noteworthy—his work ethic is unparalleled, and his durability in the world’s toughest sport is a credit to that. “I don’t train for reps and I don’t train for time,” Lewis told the NFL Network. “I train for failure. I like to see my body fail. I know there’s nobody who’s working as hard as me.”

When he was in training at Morehouse College, Edwin Moses’ teammates nicknamed him “The Bionic Man”—a nod to his punishing workout regimen. They couldn’t knock the results: The two-time Olympic gold medalist went undefeated in 122 consecutive races—a stretch that lasted exactly 9 years, 9 months, and 9 days—during which he broke his own world record four times.

One of the secrets to his success? A bigger running stride allowed Moses to take just 13 steps between hurdles, while most other competitors required at least 14.

Baseball’s detractors are fond of saying it’s not as physically demanding a game as football or hockey, or even basketball. Those people have never played baseball every day, six months out of the year for 17 straight years. Ripken did that, and at an extremely high level.

In the heart of baseball’s Steroid Era, when power hitters arose from nowhere and faded just as quickly as their artificially-enhanced bodies broke down, Ripken was a model of endurance and consistency. As his time in the big leagues concluded, he told reporters, “Early in my career, I decided I never wanted to get out of shape.”

He might be one of the biggest villains in the history of sports, but there’s no disputing that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a hell of a fighter—one of the greatest of all time.

The welterweight title holder has won every single match he’s fought, thanks to his insanely quick and accurate punches and an evasive style that baffles opponent. He says his speed stems from an intense daily fitness routine that he keeps top secret.

Not long ago, The New York Times crowned Dean Karnazes the world’s most famous ultramarathon runner, which makes it sound like there are a lot of people out there crazy enough to run up to—and sometimes more than—100 miles at a time.

The truth is, it’s a select few runners whose bodies can routinely endure such punishment. And Dean Karnazes might be the most masochistic of them all: He once ran 50 marathons in 50 days—leading up to the New York Marathon, which he ran in about 3 hours. He’s entered 12-person, 200-mile relays—and run them by himself. He’s covered 350 miles in 3 days with no sleep. He’s crossed Death Valley, and even 72 miles in 120-degree heat couldn’t take him down. What’s more amazing is that Karnazes didn’t even get started until his 30th birthday. Ready to make a big change in your fitness routine? The Anarchy Workout will show you every move you need.

By the time he retired in 2007, Kiraly had assembled the greatest career in volleyball history. The owner of nearly 150 professional beach volleyball titles, Kiraly made more than $3 million playing volleyball, and is the only person ever to win Olympic gold in both indoor and beach events.

Kiraly retired from the U.S. national team in 1988, and played professionally on the AVP tour until age 47. Now in his 50s, he serves as an assistant coach for the U.S. women’s indoor team—which came home from London with silver. Here’s how you can Ace Your Beach Volleyball Game.

At 6 feet, 11 inches and 265 pounds of pure muscle, Howard is the NBA’s best big man. But the three-time Defensive Player of the Year was wire-thin when the Orlando Magic drafted him No. 1 overall in 2004.

Because of his age and size, it was widely believed Howard would need several years of growth and experience to evolve into a productive player, but he jumped far ahead of the curve when he added 20 pounds of muscle following his rookie year. He's also a joy to watch on the court.

"I've been playing with a smile on my face since I was 3," Howard told Men’s Health. "People keep saying it looks like I'm having too much fun. And I say, 'Yes, I am.' And it should be that way. I guess that can make me a little hard to understand."

Ken Shamrock was one of the early pioneers of mixed martial arts, and one of the original competitors in the wildly popular Ultimate Fighting Championship. He started out in the late 1980s as both a face and heel in professional wrestling's regional minor leagues. Then in 1993 he traveled to Japan, where he founded Pancrease, a precursor to UFC that allowed more hand strikes than WWE-style wrestling (and didn't predetermine the results of fights).

After bringing that success back to the United States, Shamrock fought in the first Ultimate Fighting Championship—what's now remembered as UFC 1—held on November 12, 1993, losing to Brazilian Royce Gracie and sparking the UFC's first rivalry. Shamrock won his own titles in UFC 6, 7, and 8.

Around that same time, he founded the Lion's Den training center, which became one of the most highly regarded MMA instruction programs in the world. His position in the history of the UFC is secure: Shamrock was even the first inductee into its hall of fame.

If there’s one thing that defines someone who’s truly fit, it’s the drive to work out no matter the obstacle. After returning from the Iraq War where he lost an arm and a leg to an IED attack, Army vet Noah Galloway didn’t let his changed body stop him from working harder than ever. He hit the gym at 2 a.m. so he could rig the equipment to work for him, and he even completed a handful of grueling obstacle races.

The result: Galloway became the strongest, most ripped version of himself—ever—and in 2014 he became our very first Ultimate Men’s Health Guy.

Having grown up as a peewee-sized meat-and-potatoes kid with scoliosis, this endurance-running rock star now credits his vegan diet for his success. You can’t argue with results: Since making the switch, Jurek has won the 135-mile Badwater Ultra Marathon, the 153-mile Spartathlon in Greece, and the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run seven times.

And even though he has run farther in 24 hours than any U.S. athlete (165.7 miles, to be exact), he still says, “anyone can be an ultrarunner.” Between runs, Jurek speaks at conferences around the world, coaches fellow runners, and writes best-selling running books like Eat & Run. Learn how you can fuel your workout with a plant-based diet like Jurek’s.

While you might not get the rules of the game, one look at Lomu or his stats (he can sprint 100 meters in a world-class 10.8 seconds) is proof that this rugby player is one of the fittest men on the field—and a big reason why he emerged as its first international star.

He’s played more than 200 professional rugby games and is an inductee of the International Rugby Board's Hall of Fame in New Zealand. And his tenacity extends to all areas of his life: Only two weeks after undergoing a kidney transplant in 2010, he was cycling and walking again. He returned to the professional field the next year.

“The most impressive feat I've ever seen,” says personal trainer and Men’s Health fitness advisor Alwyn Cosgrove, “came courtesy of a 160-pound guy named Steve Cotter. Steve's a martial artist, and one day he did a dozen single-leg squats while holding an 88-pound kettlebell in each hand.

If that doesn't sound particularly jaw-dropping, try doing one—without any weights.” If you know anything about Cotter, though, his remarkable leg strength might not surprise you. (Just Google a move called “Extreme Pistols.”) Cotter, a two-time national champion in kuoshu (a form of martial arts), is an expert in training with kettlebells, having filmed more than half a dozen training DVDs. You might say he’s developed a fondness for the workout tool.

“Kettlebells give you better conditioning results, since you can really tax the muscles, lungs and heart together,” Cotter says. “The other advantage is the versatility. Because of the shape, you can do a lot of lifts that you may not normally do, such as various juggling movements, flipping, and catching in all sorts of patterns.” Blast fat and rev up your metabolism with this amazing kettlebell workout.

Michael Phelps' record eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympics broke the seven-medal mark set by American swimmer Mark Spitz in 1972. But Spitz still beats Phelps in another category: He set a new world record every time he got in the water, a feat that remains unmatched to this day—and will likely stand forever.

It's all the more impressive when you consider that Spitz didn't have the sleek racing suits of today's swimmers. He even refused to shave his trademark mustache to decrease water resistance.

Obree is the rare athlete who is an innovator in addition to being a competitor. To break the one-hour velodrome bicycling speed record—the farthest distance traveled by man on a bike in 60 minutes—the Scottish cyclist designed and built a unique frame that let him tuck into a more aerodynamic position.

Even more astounding, he built the bike out of parts from his washing machine. You read that right— his washing machine. The International Cycling Union would eventually ban the bike’s design, which Obree called “Old Faithful,” along with his signature hands-in-armpits riding position. Before that, Obree managed to break the hour record in 1993 (51.596 kilometers) and again in 1994 (52.713 km).

If Tiger Woods had disappeared into obscurity after his first Masters championship in 1997, he would still be known for busting racial boundaries as the first black golfer to win at the tradition-bound Augusta National course. That year, Woods was also the youngest player ever to pull on the champion's green jacket. Those feats alone breathed new life into what was perceived, at the time, as a sport exclusively for the elderly and wealthy.

Woods not only vaulted into sports stardom, he stayed there for more than a decade, before taking a nosedive due to injury and his very public divorce in 2010. He’s on the rebound, but even if he never wins another major, the 36-year-old's trophy shelf is astounding: 79 PGA wins, 14 major tournament wins, and three Grand Slams.

Known simply as “The Man,” this six-time Ironman World Champion came out of retirement at the age of 40 to celebrate his role as the first inductee into the Ironman Hall of Fame. (He passed hoards of stampeding 20-somethings to come in second, by the way.) Now, Scott coaches the next generation of triathletes, leading sport camps, clinics, and races across the country—in addition to his own training group in Boulder, Colorado. Learn the unspoken rules of your next race with the Men’s Health Triathlon Training Guide.

Georges St-Pierre was born in what he describes as a rough suburban neighborhood outside Quebec City, and took up karate to get a bully off his back. Safe to say the program worked: St-Pierre retired the welterweight champion after defending the belt for 10 matches.

Over his career, he only lost two bouts, and racked up numerous “fighter of the year” and “best pound-for-pound fighter” awards. What keeps a UFC fighter like St-Pierre going? "A desire to turn your name into a legacy," he told Men’s Health. Try out St-Pierre’s UFC-inspired workout and get yourself into fighting shape.

Along the way he racked up one silver and two gold medals at the 1952, 1956, and 1960 Summer Olympics, along with top honors at every World Weight Lifting championship during that period. After retiring from competition, he went on to coach the U.S. Olympic weightlifting team in the 1976 Summer Games.

Even today, at 82 years old, he holds weightlifting clinics at his home in Hawaii.

In the late ’90s, they said the era of the action star was dead—but then Jason Statham came along. His roguish turn in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998 raised the profile of the former British Olympic diver, and suddenly Hollywood had its new masculine ideal.

More than 40 movies later (and countless near-escapes from explosions, car wrecks, and other disasters), he’s still got massive tough-guy cred. And it’s no wonder: Statham is pure muscle and sinew, with a strong core honed from years of MMA training.

But sheer strength isn’t what the action star is all about. After getting beat up and bruised for his roles, Statham has tailored a rigorous workout regimen for his special brand of movie mayhem. As he once told Men’s Health, “Muscle men grow on trees. They can tense their muscles and look good in a mirror. So what? I’m more interested in practical strength that’s going to help me run, jump, twist, punch.”

In the era of disposable action stars, plucked seemingly at random from the ranks of bodybuilding competitions, Van Damme wasn’t just another weightlifter—he was an accomplished and formidable martial artist and kickboxer. Van Damme began training in martial arts at age 10, and took up ballet at 16. When he gave up kickboxing to focus on his acting career, he left the sport with a record of 18-1, all of his wins coming by knockout.

He went on to star in films such as Bloodsport, Timecop, Sudden Death, and, appropriately enough, Kickboxer. Now in his 50s, he still does his own stunts. “Everyone was very impressed with my kicking,” Van Damme said. “I knew I could do it because I'm still in the gym at least five times a week. You should never give up on your body. It will be there for you."

Before Tony Horton was the man behind the crossed arms and wildly popular P90X series, he was just another overweight wannabe stand-up comedian. Horton knew he’d have to slim down to make it in show business, so he started working out. Soon, he discovered that he loved rock climbing, inline skating, and anything outdoors.

“There’s no area that [fitness] hasn’t given me confidence in—physical, mental, emotional,” Horton told Men’s Health in The Power of P90X. “For me, fitness isn’t about how long I’m going to live; it’s about the quality of life right now. And let me tell you, man, I’m one happy dude.”

Johnson’s signature gold sneakers are still one of the more iconic symbols of an athlete’s dominance at the Olympic Games. After taking gold in the 4x400 meter relay in 1992, Johnson did the unthinkable four years later in Atlanta and took gold again in both the 200- and 400-meter individual races—the only male sprinter in the history of the sport to do so.

If you want to be a champion, you need to train like one—and nobody in the NFL has taken that maxim to heart more than Drew Brees. When the 2010 Super Bowl MVP shows up to camp, he routinely does so with the goal of emerging as the league’s most prepared, well-conditioned man—a big reason why he powered the Saints to an NFL championship.

"You have to push past your perceived limits, push past that point you thought was as far as you could go,” Brees told Men’s Health. “Once you push past that, you remake your confidence. I push past that and I know I've put myself in the best position to succeed. There is no person who will be in better shape than me, or more prepared. Physically, spiritually, psychologically—man, I'm ready.”

Recently, Men's Health reached out to over 20 of the country's top trainers to ask who they thought were some of the fittest people in the fitness industry. The name that was mentioned most often: Rob MacDonald.

MacDonald, the training director of Gym Jones—one of the most hardcore gyms in the country—can write a heck of a training program, sure. But his fitness feats are unrivaled: He claims the world's fastest 500-meter SkiErg sprint, and you can watch him burn 87 calories in one minute here.

If you haven’t yet heard of B.J. Gaddour, allow us to make the introduction: He’s the creator of Men's Health DeltaFit: Speed Shred, our first-ever follow-along DVD series.

Yes, it might seem self-serving, but we guarantee this guy is legit. After all, we didn’t choose just anyone to be both the mastermind and the face of our most cutting-edge fitness product. He certainly looks the part, but we’ve witnessed his physical greatness in person. To produce Speed Shred, Gaddour had to film 18 workouts in 4 days ... 18 workouts in 4 days! (He actually did 21; we had to reshoot three of the routines.) This feat was amazing, because Speed Shred is a collection of 18 incredibly intense metabolic workouts that require strength, endurance, and mental toughness. The program requires you to do just three of them a week.

“Those 4 days were without a doubt the biggest physical and mental test of my life to date,” says Gaddour. “But this project was way bigger than me, so failure was simply not an option.”

In the end, Gaddour conquered all of the workouts with a high-energy pace that makes every one look like it was his first of the week. But Gaddour’s life story helps explain his passion. As a teen, he weighed more than 275 pounds. Then he discovered fitness, and it transformed his life.

“Changing my body was the single most empowering thing I've ever done,” says Gaddour. “However, being able to help others make their own change has and will continue to be the most rewarding. And I plan to do that until the day that I die.”

Everyone knows you should pity the fool that messes with T. And for good reason: Before Mr. T scored one of Hollywood’s all-time biggest breaks—landing the role of heavyweight champion Clubber Lang in Rocky III—he worked as a bodyguard for Leon Spinks, an actual heavyweight champion of the world.

Staying in top shape was the key to T’s livelihood: His strength led him out of the Chicago projects, and into steady work on television—most memorably on The A-Team, where he starred as ass-kicking Army Sergeant Bosco “B.A.” Baracus—and in Hollywood.

Thanks to the magic of Hollywood, you can now Photoshop and CGI every actor’s flaws into oblivion with some keystrokes and mouse clicks. It was a different story in 1932 when Johnny Weissmuller first debuted as the rope-swinging ape-man Tarzan.

And as the world’s most famous swimmer, Weissmuller already had the pedigree—not to mention the pecs—to pull off the role. In the 1920s, Weissmuller set 67 world records in the pool. He won three gold medals (and a bronze in water polo) at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, and took home two more golds at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. When he debuted as Tarzan four years later, the franchise proved to be a massive commercial success, inspiring nearly 20 sequels and spin-offs, and turning Weissmuller into a global fitness icon. Call your agent, Ryan Lochte.

In 2000, Pat Tillman seemed to have everything a football player in his early twenties could dream of. He’d just earned NFL All-Pro honors for a standout season with the Arizona Cardinals, and was entering the prime of his athletic career. That’s when Tillman shocked everyone and abruptly gave up a shot at nearly $4 million (by some reports) to join the Army and fight the war in Afghanistan.

His death in April 2004—deemed the result of “friendly fire”—became a political flashpoint, and remains controversial to this day. Here’s what we can’t dispute: Yes, Pat Tillman was in remarkable shape, but it was his courage, selflessness, and bravery that define what it means and inspire us, on a level much deeper than muscles and personal records, to be completely fit.

Donate to the Pat Tillman Foundation, which has offered more than $3.2 million in scholarship aid to nearly 250 veterans.

Female gymnasts get all the attention. But until now, there haven’t been many breakout stars among men. (Go ahead. Try and name two.) Kohei Uchimura could change that very soon—if he hasn’t already. The artistic Japanese gymnast is one of the most successful men ever to compete in the sport. In the past two Summer Games, he’s won a combined five medals—one gold and four silvers—which already makes him one of the world’s more decorated gymnasts.

At home, he’s one of Japan’s biggest celebrities, and that comes as no surprise to his competitors: “He's just the greatest gymnast that's ever lived,” American gymnast Jonathan Horton told Sports Illustrated. “He really is. Unless he makes a major mistake and somebody, like maybe myself, has the meet of their life, I don't think he will be beat.”

Few sports tax the body like the NHL’s grueling 82-game, 185-day schedule. The hits, the blocked shots, the bruises, it all adds up—which is why so few players stay on the ice past the age of 40. Now consider that Chris Chelios kept playing until his 47th birthday—the second-oldest player ever to suit up in an NHL game.

How? For his entire career, Chelios committed to one of the most comprehensive offseason workout routines in the league. His trainer, T.R. Goodman, started by working on the smaller, stabilizing muscles that form a body’s foundation and then built toward more challenging, muscle-building routines.

When he’s not lifting, Chelios surfs, paddleboards, and bikes to get a cardio workout that isn’t so hard on his knees. It also helps that he can name Don Wildman—the founder of Bally’s Fitness—and surfer Laird Hamilton among his circle of friends. Extend the prime of your career with Chelios’ workout in the Men’s Health Celebrity Fitness Center.

Whether he’s playing a stripper in Magic Mike or a werewolf in True Blood, Joe Manganiello knows that he owes at least some of his success to his six-pack.

And he seems perfectly okay with continuing to muscle up: “People are writing roles for bigger guys,” he told Men’s Health. “I think we’re seeing a return to ‘the Man’. People come up to me and say they miss having those silent, tough guys like Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen… you have to fit the role physically, and that physique is muscular.”

No, Houdini was never an elite athlete. He didn’t climb Mount Everest or win an Olympic gold medal. Here’s what he could do: He could free himself while suspended upside down in a water tank. He could wriggle out of a straightjacket and toss away any set of handcuffs a blacksmith cared to lock on his wrists. Pulling off such marvelous feats required Houdini to take care of himself: One of the few surviving portraits of the famed illusionist reveals his stout, well-muscled figure, clad in heavy iron chains—which, no doubt, didn’t stay draped over his body for long.

Houdini’s abdominal strength was so renowned that he once boasted he could absorb any blow to the chest—a claim that, in a cruel twist of irony, may have led to his death. A college student tested Houdini’s claim with a surprise attack, not knowing the celebrity magician was suffering from appendicitis. Houdini died days later.

The legacy he left didn’t inspire anyone to pick up a weight, but it did something just as important—it reinforced just how far we can push our bodies beyond our self-imposed limits.

Bryan Clay didn't just win gold in the decathlon at the 2008 Olympics—he crushed the competition. After nine events, the American from Hawaii had an insurmountable 479-point lead over second-place Andrei Krauchanka, of Belarus. So he took it easy on the final event, the 1,500-meter run, crossing the finish line at the back of the pack (but with a finish time of 5:06.59).

Clay still won with the biggest margin (240 points) since 1972, and earned praise for his restraint and not simply running up his score while victory was already guaranteed.

Give Roman Sebrle credit: Not many Olympians continue to compete at such an elite level when they’re pushing 40. And the only reason Sebrle’s performance in the 2012 London Olympics may have left something to be desired was because of how high he’d already set the bar for himself.

Sebrle set a world record for the decathlon—9,026 points—that stood for 11 years ago until American decathlete Ashton Eaton edged him out by just 13 points in 2012. That’s one reason why a large panel of experts hired by the Wall Street Journal in 2008 deemed Sebrle the world’s greatest athlete, beating out LeBron James, Sidney Crosby, and others. Not that he’s resting on those laurels: Sebrle recently told the Associated Press that he plans to compete in the Olympics at least one more time.

Keep building strength no matter what year you were born with these foolproof strategies to Look Great at Any Age.

This Utah native is arguably the greatest giant slalom skier of all time. His accolades tell the tale: He claims an Olympic gold medal, 23 World Cup wins, and 5 world cup titles in the alpine skiing event.

Why’s he so good? Ligety completely revolutionized the sport by coming up with his own, more efficient method of turning his skis, which hinders on his insane lower body strength. In fact, despite being the lightest guy on the US Ski Team, he's also the strongest.

You might expect to see a character like Alexander Karelin playing the villain in a Rocky movie, but it’s even more surprising—if not a little terrifying—when you learn that he exists in real life.

Karelin dominated the sport of Greco-Roman wrestling for more than a decade, piling up three Olympic gold medals and nine more in the World Championships. At 6-foot-2, 280 pounds, Karelin’s feats of strength read like something you might see in a comic book. In a 1991 Sports Illustrated profile, Karelin talked about singlehandedly lugging a new refrigerator up eight flights of stairs when he moved into his apartment.

He didn’t treat opponents much better: His signature move involved hoisting 265-pound men into the air and tossing them as freely as you might toss a medicine ball.

“Always, I am conscious that I am not a typical man,” Karelin told the magazine. “I can win a wrestling competition with a decent enough score, but because I am not typical, I must win in atypical ways."

Imagine, for a moment, if you were an NFL general manager and could sign the fastest man in the world to play wide receiver. Would it work? The Dallas Cowboys found out in 1965 when they enlisted the services of Bob Hayes, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and holder, at the time, of sprinting world records in four events.

Hayes became an immediate threat: Opponents struggled to contain his blazing speed, and in his first two seasons Hayes led the NFL in receiving touchdowns. It worked so well, in fact, that in 1972 Hayes became the only man in history to combine his Olympic gold medal with a Super Bowl ring when he helped the Cowboys win it all. Hear that, Usain Bolt?

The most ripped guy in the National Football League is a … punter? That’s right—Giants' punter Steve Weatherford sports a 6’2”, 230-pound frame and a perennial 5 percent body fat.

Weatherford wasn’t always built like the Statue of David, though. He entered high school weighing 107 pounds—so he hit the gym twice a day all four years of school and graduated at a ripped 225. That work ethic is also what scored him a Super Bowl ring in 2012.

If you ever wonder why it’s called martial arts, just watch Jackie Chan. You’ll see grace and style in his movements, almost like a choreographed dance (he’s appropriately cited Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly as inspirations). While Chan is never the biggest or most intimidating presence onscreen, he’s always the most compelling, giving each burst of kinetic energy charismatic flare.

Dude’s got staying power, too. Chan’s currently in his early 60s and has racked up more than that number of movie credits in a career spanning five different decades. Amazing considering that, just like his kung fu predecessor Bruce Lee, Chan performs most of his own stunts and has suffered multiple debilitating injuries over the years, including breaking his fingers, his nose three times, and his skull.

Still, the lovable action star—maybe most memorable as the straight man to Chris Tucker’s off-the-wall cop in Rush Hour—continues to report for duty, recently shutting down rumors of his retirement.

Some people read The Guinness Book of World Records and shake their heads in amazement. Multi-disciplinary athlete Paddy Doyle uses it as his to-do list. The numbers alone are staggering: He holds the records for most squats in one hour (4,708), most one-armed pushups in a year (1,500,230), most weight lifted in one hour (149,220 pounds), and the fastest mile run with a 40-pound backpack (5 minutes, 35 seconds).

Oh yeah, and he also holds the record for most records broken in one day (14).

To date, Paddy has racked up more than 200 such fitness achievements, and in 2009, Guinness recognized him as the World Fitness Endurance Champion (a title he still holds). Not bad for a guy who grew up in a rough-and-tumble part of Birmingham City, England, where as a kid he’d often get into bar fights.

Now in his 40s, the former paratrooper and amateur boxer continues to break new boundaries with his body, earning him the nickname “Iron Man.” Sorry, Robert Downey, Jr.—but do you really want to argue with this guy?

Before LeBron, there was Magic—a 6-foot-9 point guard with a frontcourt body and backcourt skills. He played all five positions, won five championships, three MVP awards, and did it all with the most infectious smile anyone had ever seen—before, that is, becoming sports’ most famous cautionary tale and the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic when he announced he had contracted the feared disease in 1991.

Two decades later, Magic has become the disease’s most-prominent survivor, as well as a successful and tenacious businessman. As a part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he has infused a driven, win-at-all-costs attitude into the formerly laid-back franchise.

Charismatic, flamboyant, unbelievably tall—and did we mention insanely fast? Usain Bolt doesn’t need you to tell him how great he is. “I’m now a legend,” Bolt said after winning the 100- and 200-meter events at the 2012 Olympics in London. “I’m also the greatest athlete to live.”

While the latter is up for debate, Bolt is the highest-earning track-and-field athlete of all time, and could very well be the fastest person in the entirety of human history. He owns seven of the top 11 performances in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, including the top spot in both.

He has also caused controversy by slowing down near the finish line after leaving the competition in the dust, prompting many to wonder about the times he’d post if he ran hard the whole way.

“To keep winning, I have to keep improving,” says Ironman Craig Alexander. In 2011, after already having won three world championships, Alexander cranked up his performance big time, becoming the first triathlete to win both the Ironman 70.3 Series and the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in the same year.

He also holds the record for the fastest time in the Ironman Hawaii, a feat he accomplished while also being the oldest man (at age 38) to win the event. He credits extreme daily high-intensity intervals, which include 45 minutes of ab work. Try intervals yourself, The Most Effective Cardio Workout for Your Body.

Brad Pitt’s abs may go down as one of the more lasting images of the new millennium. Throughout most of his career, when hulking action heroes were all the rage, Pitt’s seemingly more attainable physique signaled a welcome change. Every woman may have wanted him, but every guy wanted that—a six-pack worthy of showing off, whether you’re Tyler Durden throwing haymakers in a grungy, abandoned basement, or a battle-hardened Greek hero.

Many call Jerry Rice the greatest NFL player of all time, but during his playing days, you could have also made the case for him also being the most insane. Why? Two words: The Hill.

Rice’s training in San Francisco’s The Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve is the stuff of legend. The wide receiver sprinted nonstop up what he dubbed “The Hill” for 2.5 miles every single day to condition his body for long, grueling NFL games.

Rice has attributed his sharp fourth-quarter energy and ability to make big plays in the game’s final minutes—when other players were sapped—to battling through the vertical hell day after day. (He still sticks with the sprints, now in his 50s.)

Nowadays, hill training is an essential workout staple among professional athletes and fitness freaks—and you can partly credit Rice and his maniacal ways. Want to see how you hold up to a brutal NFL workout? Try The All-Pro Endurance Challenge.

It wasn’t enough for Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown to completely own the NFL in just nine seasons, powering through the record books as he pulverized defenders in the ’50s and ’60s. No, Brown hung up his cleats at the peak of his pro career at age 29, eager to trade in the stadium for the silver screen and make the tough transition from athlete to action star. Of course, an extended career in the limelight required Brown to maintain leading-man muscle well into middle age (when most of his fellow footballers had gone flabby).

Even now, Brown occasionally pops up in flicks, and three-quarters of a century in, he still has the brawn to deliver a punishing blow.

A reverse 2 1/2 somersault in pike position. Of the thousands of dives that this 4-time Olympic gold medalist performed in his storied career, that may be the one for which Greg Louganis is best known. It’s the one he attempted in the 8th round of the 1988 Seoul 3-meter springboard preliminaries when he hit his head on the board, opening up a sickening gash.

Yes, the dive was a failure—but it was also a symbol of Louganis’ superhuman resolve. After getting stitched up, the man who had endured countless “sissy boy” taunts in childhood (he had dyslexia, asthma and a stutter), summoned up the courage to go for the same dive again—and nailed it, eventually winning the finals by more than 25 points and cementing his status as one of the greatest divers of all time.

Louganis—who now serves as an advisor for the gold medal-winning U.S. diving team—has overcome much tougher personal struggles, including an HIV diagnosis, being the victim of a sexual assault, and coming out as a gay man in 1995. But through it all, he’s maintained the same determination that allowed him to get back on that board in Seoul to perform the reverse 2 1/2 somersault pike again to perfection—the dive which, in his own self-effacing words, made him “the toughest sissy in the world.”

Some actors need CGI to look buff. Not Hugh Jackman. The imposing 6-foot-3 Aussie who brought Wolverine to life in all his mutton-chopped glory prides himself on getting in top shape for each role. Yes, even the artsy ones.

On the set of Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain, for instance, the man added a year of daily yoga to his usual workout routine just to be able to hold the Lotus position long enough for a key underwater take. And to pull off Wolverine in numerous X-Men sequels and spin-offs? How about an hour and half every day in the gym, eventually working up to a 315-pound bench and 1,000-pound leg press, while adding an extra 1,000 calories to his daily diet. (Watch Hugh Jackman Deadlift 400 Pounds)

On stage, he was a hulking presence—hulking enough to win both Mr. America and Mr. Universe awards. But more importantly, George Eiferman was accessible. After winning his crowns, he brought fitness to his hometown of Las Vegas by opening multiple gyms in the area. At those gyms he'd give rookie lifters tips to help them build a physique like his.

In that way, Eiferman was a true man of the people—even after he retired in 1990, he'd visit Las Vegas health clubs and sit at the smoothie bar, offering advice to amateur bodybuilders.

Forget gin and juice, L.L. is more of a fruit-and-veggie (followed by weighted-jacket sprints) kind of rapper. "Working out is a huge investment in yourself, and it builds equity in your body," he says.

On the road, he regularly hops off the bus for hours of drills on burning-hot asphalt, or pullups on high-school football field goalposts. The hip-hop star has even taken his healthy message to the masses with fitness and nutrition books like LL Cool J's Platinum Workout and the LL Cool J Platinum 360 Diet and Lifestyle. Try his workout and the ladies might just love you, too.

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